somers



UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE.

DANIEL M. SOMERS, OF BROOKLYN, ASSIGNOR TO IVISON, BLAKEMAN & CO,

' OF NEIV YORK, N. Y.

BOX.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 421,059, dated February 11, 1890. Hpplication filed May 6, 1889. Serial No. 309,728. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DANIEL M. SOMERS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Brooklyn, county of Kings, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvemen ts in Boxes, fully described and represented in the following specification and the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the same.

The object of this invention is the production of a shipping-box not only cheaper in construction, but provided with a means for temporarily looking it in a closed condition to preserve its contents for transportation, so constructed and applied as to admit of the examination or removal of its contents.

The improvements effected are so particularly hereinafter set forth and precisely pointed out in the claims as to need no preliminary description.

The invention will now be fully explained in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view, and Figs. 2, 3, and at are longitudinal sectional elevations, and Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional elevation, of a box embodying the invention.

Heretofore boxes of this general character have been made of sheet metal, thelock forming an integral part of the cover. Such a construction is not only a costly one, but presents a Weakness of the body, which, either from springing, bending, or denting, renders the contents packed and transported therein liable to injury, and in some instances to loss, by reason of the box-sides springing so far as to permit the sliding coverto be detached from the body of the box. I overcome these defects in the present structure by making the box of a thick rigid material, as wood or composition, forming an equivalent thick and light body, and provide the sliding cover with a thin metal lockingplate, so attached at its forward end that a simple bending operation will secure the cover in place and prevent its removal under ordinary circumstances attending handling and transportation.

Referring now to the drawings, it will be understood that the box consists of a bottom 2, sides 4, and ends 3, formed out of wood or similar cheap light material affording such a wooden cover 6, (it might be otherwise fastened, as by tacks,) and bears forward projections 10, (one or more,) that protrude beyond the box-end, and may be turned down against said end to form a lock holding the cover in place. Said cover thus abuts against the boxend 3 on one side, and the projections 10 abut against the opposite side of the same end 3, and thus embracing said end retain the cover in place. Of course the stop or part of the cover abutting on one side of theend 3 might be its extremity 7 when the end 3 rises even with the box-sides to form the "stop; or in the structure where the said end is low enough to permit the cover to slide over it, as in Fig. 4, then a downward exten- 8o sion 11 of the plate 9 might be made, the stop to abut against the inside of the box-end. This stop might also be placed at the other end of the box, if desired. Thus is provided a heavy strong packing-box capable of resisting the shocks incident'to transportation, and which may be secured in a closed and temporarily-locked condition by most simple means.

hat is claimed is 1. A wooden shipping-box having a cover sliding in grooves in the sides of the box and provided with a sheet-metal fastener secured to the cover and adapted to protrude beyond the boxend and be bent downward against the same to form a lock preventing the cover from sliding open, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing DANL. M. SOMERS.

2. A box provided with a sliding cover 6, adapted to abut against the end 3 of the box,

said cover being provided with the attached witnesses. thin ductile metal plate having protruding extensions 10, adapted to be bent over the Vitnesses: end of the box to lock the eoverin place, substantially as described.

1. II. PALMER, EDWARD R. W001). 

